Metro Digest / Local News in Brief

Lynch Concedes Defeat in Race With Hahn

Los Angeles County Assessor John J. Lynch conceded defeat to a mid-level employee in his office Thursday, even though more than 100,000 absentee ballots remained to be counted in his race with political novice Kenneth P. Hahn.

With all precincts counted, Hahn had collected 720,614 votes for assessor to Lynch's 678,194 or 51.51% to 48.8%. Lynch conceded in a prepared statement that the 42,000-vote margin was too much to make up. He congratulated Hahn.

In his new post, Hahn, who has spent most of his career as an appraiser answering public complaints, will run a department of 1,600 employees in overseeing the nation's largest property-tax jurisdiction in land value.